Ecclesiastes 5

1 When you enter God’s temple, you should be sure to listen carefully. Doing that is better than offering sacrifices to God [and then not obeying him], which is foolish.

Keep your foot, whenever you go to the house of God; and [when you are] near to hear, let your sacrifice [be] better than the gift of fools: for they know not that they are doing evil.

2 Think carefully before you speak [MTY] or before you promise God that you will do something [IDM]. [Do not forget that] God is in heaven [and he is all-powerful] and you are here on the earth, so think carefully before you [make any promises to God].

Be not hasty with your mouth, and let not your heart be swift to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven above, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.

3 If you are continually thinking [and worrying] about things, you will have bad dreams about them and not rest [well]. And the more you talk, the more likely it will be that you will say things that are foolish.

For through the multitude of trial a dream comes; and a fool's voice is with a multitude of words.

4 When you solemnly promise God that you will do something, do not be foolish by delaying in doing it, because God is not pleased with foolish people. Do [all] the things that you promise God that you will do.

Whenever you shall vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it; for [he has] no pleasure in fools: pay you therefore whatever you shall have vowed.

5 It is better to not promise [anything] than to promise to do something, and [then] not doing it.

[It is] better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.

6 Do not sin by promising to do something and then not doing it. And [when you promise God to do something and do not do it], do not say to God’s priest that it was a mistake for you to promise to do that. If you do that, God will certainly [RHQ] become very angry with you, and he will take from you everything that you [SYN] have worked to acquire.

Suffer not your mouth to lead your flesh to sin; and say not in the presence of God, It was an error: lest God be angry at your voice, and destroy the works of your hands.

7 Promising to do something and not doing it is like [SIM] a dream that has no value; instead, revere God [by doing what you promised him that you would do].

For [there is evil] in a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words: but fear you God.

8 Do not be surprised if you see poor [people] being (oppressed/treated cruelly) [by powerful/influential people], or if you see judges making unjust decisions throughout the land. [That happens] because the people who do that are supervised [and cheated by] more important officials [DOU],

If you should see the oppression of the poor, and the wresting of judgment and of justice in the land, wonder not at the matter: for [there is] a high one to watch over him that is high, and high ones over them.

9 and even the king forces the people to give him some of the crops that they harvest.

Also the abundance of the earth is for every one: the king [is dependent on] the tilled field.

10 Everyone who tries to [get as much] money as they can will never think that they have enough. They will never be satisfied with the money that they have. That also is senseless.

He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver: and who has loved gain, in the abundance thereof? this is also vanity.

11 The more money that we have, the more people want us to spend our money to buy things for them. So people who have a lot of money do not [RHQ] benefit from it; they see [MTY] it when they get it, but it soon (disappears/is completely spent).

In the multitude of good they are increased that eat it: and what virtue has the owner, but the right of beholding [it] with his eyes?

12 Those who work hard sleep peacefully [at night], even if they do not have much food to eat. But rich [people] do not sleep well, because [they worry] about their money.

The sleep of a servant is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but to one who is satiated with wealth, there is none that suffers him to sleep.

13 I have seen [another] terrible thing that happens here on the earth [MTY]: People save [up all] their money and become rich, [but] they are not helped by saving a lot of money,

There is an infirmity which I have seen under the sun, [namely], wealth kept for its owner to his hurt.

14 [because] something happens that causes their money to be gone, and when they die, there is no money for their children to get/inherit.

And that wealth shall perish in an evil trouble: and [the man] begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand.

15 When we are born, we do not bring anything with us, and when we die, we take nothing with us from all that we have earned by our working hard.

As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, he shall return back as he came, and he shall receive nothing for his labor, that it should go [with him] in his hand.

16 That also seems senseless. People bring nothing [into the world when they are born], and they leave [this world] taking nothing with them. They have worked hard, but they receive no lasting benefit [MET].

And this is also an evil infirmity: for as he came, so also shall he return: and what is his gain, for which he vainly labors?

17 [Furthermore, rich people] are always miserable [MET] and sad, and depressed/discouraged and often sick and (resentful/thinking that what has happened to them is unfair).

Yes, all his days are in darkness, and in mourning, and much sorrow, and infirmity, and wrath.

18 So, the best thing for people to do here on the earth during the few years that God allows them to be alive is to eat and drink and to enjoy their work, because those are the things that God has given to them.

Behold, I have seen good, that it is a fine thing [for a man] to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labor in which he may labor under the sun, [all] the number of the days of his life which God has given to him: for it is his portion.

19 If people are rich and have a lot of possessions, and are able to (enjoy/be happy with) the things that they have and to enjoy their work, those things are [also] gifts from God.

Yes, and [as for] every man to whom God has given wealth and possessions, and has given him power to eat thereof, and to receive his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.

20 Those people do not worry much about [everything that has happened] during the time that they have been alive, because God enables them to be happy doing everything that they do.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life; for God troubles him in the mirth of his heart.